Hollande's 75% 'Supertax' Failure A Blow To Piketty's Economics

France has said goodbye to its infamous 75% income tax on individuals earning more than 1 million euros this past weekend, returning to a top marginal income tax rate of 45%. The change, effective February 1, is a blow to the French Socialist party’s signature redistribution measure, the same remedy supported by popular French economist Thomas Piketty who predicted that “lots of other countries will inevitably follow this route.” To be precise, Piketty and his frequent co-author Emmanuel Saez recently argued for an even higher 80% levy on high earner income in an op-ed for The Guardian.

Most memorably, the French supertax famously compelled French actor Gerard Depardieu to become a Russian citizen and relocate to Moscow for tax reasons. Notwithstanding, this trend of emigration persisted at the macro level as an estimated 2.5 million French citizens now live abroad in the U.K., Belgium and other countries sporting more competitive income tax rates.

As a result of a reduced labor supply and discouraged investment in France following the 75% top marginal income tax rate announced in September 2012, French revenues for 2013 came in at only 16 billion euros, a 14 billion euro shortfall below the French government’s expected 30 billion in tax collections.

Compared to initial estimates from the French government using models which ignore the Laffer Curve’s “slippery slope,” tax revenues from corporate taxes, individual income tax, and value-added tax (VAT) were down by 6.4 billion, 4.9 billion, and 5 billion euros respectively.

In 2014, the French economy continued its stagnation as the economy has failed to post a single quarter of annualized GDP growth above 0.8% since Hollande took office in 2012 and implemented his 75% supertax shortly after. France’s unemployment rate still sits around 10%. The French government also conceded that the country will most likely fail to meet its deficit target of 3.8% of GDP in 2014 and may not do so until 2017 with tax revenues projected to continue their decline.

France’s 75% ‘supertax’ illustrates the effects of the Laffer curve

The French 'supertax' perfectly illustrates the Laffer curve’s depiction of diminishing government revenues at high tax rates. Piketty and his co-authors have forgotten the power of an old idea, which recently turned 40 as Heritage Foundation chief economist Stephen Moore observed in The Washington Post.

France’s experience with its 75% supertax and declining tax revenues also confirms recent research on the Laffer curve by Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Georgetown economists that estimates the tipping point where higher tax rates cause declining tax revenues begins at a 52% marginal tax rate. Another recent paper by University of Chicago professor Harald Uhlig and Federal Reserve Board of Governors economist Mathias Trabandt estimate this critical tax rate lies somewhere in the 50-65% range for European countries including France.

With the 75% supertax scrapped, the top marginal income tax rate in France will now be 45%. Indeed, France will now return to the tax rates of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Holland’s predecessor, who had established a tax ceiling of 50% of earnings.